French President Emmanuel Macron was visibly rattled Sunday when his wife, Brigitte Macron, forcefully pushed him in the face just before disembarking their plane in Hanoi, Vietnam, at the start of a Southeast Asia tour.
The shocking moment, captured on video by The Associated Press, showed Brigitte’s hands—one gripping Macron’s mouth and nose, the other on his jaw—shoving the president backward as he stood in the plane’s doorway.

Macron, dressed in a suit, recoiled with shock and confusion, before forcing a waving and forcing a smile for the cameras.

The incident, which went viral, sparked intense scrutiny in France and beyond.
Le Parisien’s headline blared, "Slap or Squabble?" as media and social platforms dissected the footage.
Macron, 47, downplayed the altercation, insisting to reporters it was mere "horseplay."
"We were joking with my wife," he said, dismissing the uproar as a "geo-planetary catastrophe" blown out of proportion.
Macron's office echoed the sentiment, calling the altercation a "moment of complicity" and blaming conspiracy theorists for fueling speculation.
Yet Macron’s dazed demeanor and Brigitte’s refusal to take his arm as they descended the plane’s stairs—her red blazer a stark contrast to his strained grin—did little to quell questions.
The couple, married since 2007 after meeting when Macron was a teenage student and Brigitte, then 39, was his married drama teacher, has long been a lightning rod for controversy.
Adding fuel to the fire, long-standing rumors have resurfaced alleging Brigitte Macron is transgender and born male.
Conservative commentator Candace Owens has relentlessly amplified this theory, particularly since 2024, calling it “the biggest political scandal in human history.”

In a January 2025 YouTube video titled “Becoming Brigitte: An Introduction,” Owens claimed Brigitte was born Jean-Michel Trogneux and transitioned at age 30, alleging a lack of early-life photos as proof.
After first calling it “Russian disinformation”, Emmanuel Macron has now pivoted and is telling the press that he and his 80 year old husband were “play-fighting”.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) May 26, 2025
Ever play-fight with a senior citizen?
Also, Brigitte refused his hand coming down the stairs.
😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/qkZ2u9LPpQ
Owens further linked the Macrons to broader conspiracies involving pedophilia and elite cover-ups, drawing millions of views.
In a follow-up, Owens revealed receiving a legal threat from the Macrons’ law firm, which argued Brigitte "does not owe proof" of her gender, only fueling her campaign.
Owens doubled down in a February 2025 podcast series, “Becoming Brigitte,” claiming “explosive documents” and accusing France of cyberattacks against her.
Owens' content, garnering millions of YouTube views and millions more on TikTok, has spread the theory globally, with some users bizarrely alleging Brigitte is Emmanuel’s father.
Macron's smackdown by his wife comes on the heels of another scandal targeting the French head of state.
Earlier in May, a viral claim, amplified by Kremlin officials, alleged that Macron was using cocaine aboard a train from Poland to Ukraine alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
You can clearly see it’s a bag of Blow,. https://t.co/C3SSJzhKrS pic.twitter.com/dcRDn7uIgU
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) May 12, 2025
The Élysée palace, the private office and residence of the French President, denied the claims, insisting the alleged bag of cocaine, "is a tissue, For blowing your nose”.
As Macron navigates his Southeast Asia tour, meeting leaders like Vietnam’s President To Lam to bolster economic and defense ties, the Hanoi shove and cocaine controversies threaten to overshadow his agenda.
The Élysée’s attempts to downplay the incident and cocaine rumors have done little to quell speculation, with the Brigitte conspiracy gaining new life online.
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